Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Environmentalist and Greenpeace executive director, led campaign against Brent Spa and direct action destroying GM crops.
On the island
Eight records
The song about the Manchester Rambler symbolizes that for me, the great actions that people took in the nineteen twenties and thirties in this country.
Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves
Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin
Certainly the greatest change in my lifetime has been the a revolution in attitudes to women and the feminism and the women's movement. I suppose in in my own life I was influenced by that and particularly by my partner, so I thought uh uh a song about that would be appropriate.
Another thing I think the establishment and many other people have always been wrong about is cannabis. I it's just unbelievable to me that it hasn't been legalised... And this is a Dillon song which celebrates the weed.
This song by The Rolling Stones is one of the ones I associate with some of those early festivals back in the seventies.
I was Minister for the Arts, I think the first one in Northern Ireland who'd been willing to listen to punk rock, let alone like some of it.
Bob Marley & The Wailers and Lauryn Hill
Like any parent with teenage children, most of the music I actually listen to at the moment is chosen by my kids, and this will certainly remind me of them.
An early action which I went on with Greenpeace was when you two visited Sellerfield as part of the campaign against reprocessing in the nuclear business at Sellerfield.
PeaceFavourite
This is uh the arrhythmics from their latest album, which they launched on the Rainbow Warrior. It was a magical moment on the Thames. And this is an optimistic song about peace, and I've always loved their music, and the fact that they support Greenpeace has been an added bonus.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:31How do you feel when you're doing things like [direct action]?
Well, uh combination of things I suppose. Nervous. Hopefully trying to focus on the the problem, on on the damage to the environment, to keep that in one's mind.
Presenter asks
1:47Are you nervous because you're breaking the law?
No, I don't really feel that. I mean, I studied law at university and and it's always seemed to me the law is is a much more movable and flexible thing. It changes over time... So the fact that the law prohibits something doesn't mean to say that in my view that it's wrong always.
Presenter asks
2:53Where do you draw the line in your own mind [on civil disobedience]?
Well, I wouldn't I w I would draw the line between non violence and violence, and for me that's an absolute line, and violence, in my view, I don't believe can be justified.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
A field guide to the local wildlife
I'd like to take a field guide to the wildlife of this the region where this island is still surviving, because it seems to me one of the things that would be fascinating would be to start to learn a little about what was happening in in the ecology of the island.
The luxury
I would find it unbearable, I think, to be on a desert island without being able to see what was happening under water. That's always been one of the greatest things of my life, and so I think a mask and snorkel has to be it.
Did you feel, after your experience in public office and so on, did you have a sense of being in the right place [at Greenpeace]?
Yes, definitely. Yes. Because it's an organization which is um dedicated to trying to change things and without ideological baggage of of of any sort. It just sort of gets on with the job.
Presenter asks
19:14What do you mean when you say [politics is a lying game]?
Y first of all, uh and this is true of many other jobs, of course, you have to stick with the party line and the government line if you're in the government. And say things you don't believe and don't agree with... I think it it was more the sense that it would be very difficult to remain open minded and responsive to people because the the demands of the job and the pressures on you... does make a lot of people create a very hard shell around them. That's what's what I saw happening, and I didn't want that to happen to me.
“Most of the changes in the law that I can think of have been marks of our civilization, you know, of us becoming more civilized, more intelligent, more sensitive. So the fact that the law prohibits something doesn't mean to say that in my view that it's wrong always.”
“I think it's important for someone to feel personally that that what they're doing is justified and that they're willing to take full responsibility for it and to defend it and believe that it's right and therefore not illegal or shouldn't be illegal.”
“I think if you're going to make a commitment to someone, it's a personal thing... But yes, I was also keen that uh inherited privilege of that sort shouldn't be perpetuated.”